A Compendium of Inspired Activity
by Survivor at midnight
Summary: Or a collection of poetry, possibly a short story or two, if you prefer.
1. Intro

Hello, and welcome to _A Compendium of Inspired Activity_!

So let me explain how this will work. All works are original compositions by myself, affiliated with everything and nothing. I have no intention of making anything in here related to anything existing (that I know of anyway, if it does already exist I did not intend to copy it, I had no knowledge of it prior to my writing the piece, and I own the pre-existing piece in no way, shape, or form) and I have no intention of making these pieces relate to each other all that much.

Anything and everything will be entering this little compilation, and I will be open to taking suggestions/requests/commissions. Just don't expect them to be all that long. If you wish to comment on any of the pieces (love it, hate it, this is what I think your hidden message is, I know my English teacher would say this, etc.), feel free to in a review.

Other than that, feel free to enjoy. Please favorite, review, share, and as always and forever, stay safe!


	2. Swing

**Update: August 21, 2016**

So I made this for my high school's literary arts journal (the fancy term for poetry/short stories/artwork over there) and I was just like 'lemme see if I can do this thing like that over there' and this came up. I want to hear your thoughts on my poetry. What you think it means, what you think my quote-unquote 'hidden message' is, what you think your English professor would say if he/she/they read this. I may or may not open up a forum type thing for poetry discussions, check if I do, but if not, just review and spill your guts. I really want to hear what people think when they read poetry.

Of course, as always, review, favorite, follow, and stay safe everyone!

* * *

Swing

There is absolutely no time for anything.

A seven page term paper on ecology is due at midnight tonight;

A scale model project on the renaissance theater in another week;

A six-hundred page book lies open on the nightstand, waiting to be read;

A biology textbook is open on the desk, telling me to study study study;

A test on physics come Tuesday;

An essay on politics by Friday.

So much to do with

So little time for it all.

So I grab my keys and walk out the front door.

...

No particular destination is in mind;

I just walk around wherever I please and let the gentle wind

Blow my unruly, stubborn hair into my eyes and kick dirt

Onto my ratty old shoes and tug on my light grey zip-up sweater.

The entire neighborhood seems brand new -

Was that fountain always there?

Did they always have that garden?

And I walk down a new street in the noonday warmth and

Drink all the cool sights in and listen to all the cheery quietness and

Wonder how I've lived here for the entirety of my life and still

Never seen, never felt, never heard, never _knew_ any of it at all.

...

The park is open and almost empty.

I haven't been here for years, it seems.

There's a brother chasing down his sister for ice cream money,

And another kid trying to steal the basketball away from his brother.

A little pigtailed girl is writing numbers on the large flagstone bricks in a straight line,

Thinking she's made a hopscotch board. She turns to her friends and shows it off proudly.

Mothers and fathers recline on the benches in the shade of the tress,

Half asleep to the sound of happy laughter and bike bells and bouncing handballs.

And I watch it all from my perch of a swing.


	3. House of Cards

**Update: August 21, 2016**

Another little thingy. I'm honestly just dropping all of these at once, because I feel like once school starts I won't be doing this often. What's probably going to happen is once a month you all will be seeing a dumpload of stuff, since I'll be writing on the backs of receipts and scraps of loose leaf and in my phone's note app. Anyway, I will keep you no longer, on to this gem. As always, favorite, follow, review, and as always always, stay safe!

* * *

House of Cards

So much effort

put into the design,

the structure,

and so much time

Too much, in fact,

because it falls down

and red and white and black

scatter everywhere

But that's okay

It can always be built again


	4. The Blue Jell Pen

**Update: August 21, 2016**

Another one.

That is all I have to say right now.

That, and my normal spiel, But you read it the last three chapters, so you know what? Imma just randomly put it on some chapters just to remind you. But not on this lol!

* * *

 _(A variation on a theme by William Carlos Williams' The Red Wheelbarrow)_

The Blue Jell Pen

so much depends

upon

.

the blue ink

jell pen

.

waiting to be

used

.

besides the blank

looseleaf


	5. To What Lies Ahead

**Update: August 21, 2016**

Once more, I'm not going to waste your time with stuff you know you can do. Have fun!

* * *

To What Lies Ahead

The sun

It will rise again and again

without fail

And you, dear heart, will

rise to meet it in

the farthest reaches of ever

So please listen to how

the birds sing and the way

the wind blows in the crab grass

Do not ever forget me,

or the times we shared, good

and bad and in between

But turn now and face the dawn

and know that I will be here


	6. Until We Meet Once More

**Update: August 21, 2016**

Blue. I have no idea why, but that word is in my head.

Oh well.

My best friend is sitting besides me and is playing an awesome and slightly crackish website on Bernie Sanders. Google 'do we feel the Bern' and click on the first link for some laughs. Or type it into your search bar (no spaces or symbols) and dot com. Enjoy.

Don't forget to favorite, follow, review, and as always, stay safe!

Carry on.

* * *

 _(A variation on a theme by William Carlos Williams' This Is Just to Say)_

Until We Meet Once More

I am sorry

to have

to leave so

very soon

.

but you see

things are

changing

so fast

.

Forgive me,

you will always

be so dear

to my heart


	7. I Am A Poem Entitled Passing Time

**Update: August 23, 2016**

I woke up feeling old. This happened.

* * *

I am a poem entitled passing time

Bright pink shirts with the princess sparkles

and the blue shirt with the dinosaurs on it.

Lunch boxes packed with one of those Lunchable

things that you only really ate the crackers and snack from

and the CapriSun juice boxes fresh out of the freezer

and the bag of Cheezits or Goldfish crackers because your

parents already know you trade things with the other kids during

free play time or when you're supposed to be taking a nap

and throw out the rest so you can fit all your arts and crafts

and pictures and drawings inside instead.

…

Cute light blue-and-white patterned shirt with

a frilly skirt and Sketchers Light-Up sneakers

or the plaid flannel button down over that old

dinosaur tee and some blue jeans and Adidas sneakers.

Standing in the lunch line waiting for the barely

edible cafeteria food, talking about waking up early tomorrow,

Saturday morning, just to watch channel 7 or 13, where

 _Sailor_ _Moon_ or _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ or _Sonic X_ or _Winx Club_ or _Power Rangers_

will be playing until noon, when your parents will finally

make you start your weekend chores.

…

Button down cardigans and polo shirts and

the stereotypical khaki or navy blue or black uniform pants.

Book bags a normal solid color (no more Disney Princess or

Power Ranger _anything_ , because that's just so _childish_ )

are filled to the brim with notebooks and pencils and tape and

textbooks and a planner and binders and stuff and stuff and stuff and

 _Christ,_ this place is so big, how do you find this class or get to

that side of the campus, _don't upset the seniors_

Oh! you remember that person from grade school

stay together and try to survive all the new teachers and

a new batch of students with every new class and try to not

fall asleep because you probably shouldn't have been up until four

in the morning watching _Teen Wolf_ or every single _Fast and Furious_ movie

Crap! That's the bell! Don't be late! Text me at lunch so we can sit together!

…

Back to skinny jeans and a decent top, hair just

barely passible for decent, a messenger bag holding only

a thin notebook laptop, a thin binder with like ten pieces of

loose leaf and a pen and your phone charger. Headphones

blasting while you walk into a coffee shop and order

some overly-complicated-sounding caffeinated drink and a pastry

and cringe when you hand over the credit card and hear

the money draining away when you realize you have to

buy food for the dorm and gas for your car and textbooks

for class and you _promise_ yourself that you won't order

something out again for another month but sigh when you realize

you'll probably be back tomorrow anyway.

…

A three-piece suit or a blouse and skirt and heels

are really annoying to wear, you muse, as you drum your fingers

against the steering wheel of your car and glare at the

river of red lights curving right off into the rising sun.

You reach over to the empty passenger seat and snag a juice

pouch from your bag (cheap and convenient, if full of empty calories)

and stab the little yellow straw into the plastic.

Your eyes fall on the little picture of some athletic daredevil

pulling some insane stunt on the plastic and you wish you had today off

just to see if channel 7 or 13 was playing one of those

old cartoons you used to love as a child.


	8. This Is Just An Ode To My Bed

**Update: September 1st, 2016**

So, as you can guess, this was written from my lovely college bed. It is actually a lot more comfortable than I thought it would be, and I am pleased to say that despite classes (which in and of themselves are weird) my lovely bed is there for me.

* * *

This Is Just An Ode To My Bed

...

This may not be the traditional

Pindaric poem of old, yet still

I wish to convey the endless depths

of my gratitude and love for you.

My gratefulness to your warmth

and my need for your comfort

and my desire to return when I

must leave, and to stay when I

must go. No matter your dressing,

vestige, or apparel, my adoration

remains unending. You welcome

me with softness and wrap cotton

arms around me tight. You tell me

to shirk off the past day, to leave it

behind, and bring me to a house of

respite. You provide rest for my drained

body and peace for my distressed soul

and quiet for my troubled mind. Clouds

of color cushion my head and tickle

my feet and blanket my form in

an embrace like the very light

of the sun. In all the world, none can

replace you, none can supplant you.

There can be no other for me.

…

My bed now calls my name,

so I will now leave you this

and hope you will do the same.


	9. When the Sun Sets

**Update: Sept. 12, 2016**

Hi again! Another shortish-but-not-really kind of thing. Some food for thought. Have fun with it!

* * *

When the Sun Sets

...

I tried

I tried and tried to be what you wanted me to be

I turned my life into a list

of things to do and say so that

you would look at me with approval

and I gave up the things that made me

me and I gave them up so that you would speak me

with something akin to respect

But it is never enough

because

I am still flawed in your eyes

still weighed down by useless things

and mindless rabble and childish

thoughts unbecoming of someone you want to be around

You don't hesitate to tell me that something is still

wrong with me, that something still needs to be

fixed, and I grit my teeth and nod my head

and force my voice to say "yes, you are completely right,

I will be better next time" without breaking and hold back the tears

of another stinging verbal slap in the face and make myself

stand straight and stare blankly ahead as you tell me

how to be me and I

want nothing more than to escape and cry

for mercy, because your expectations rise far above

what I can reach without becoming another

mindless, lifeless, soulless, brainless, emotionless, feelinless

doll

and the very thought of that scares me

makes me cower in fear but

if it will put me in your good graces I

will try and

lock my mind up in a box and throw away the key

shove my life into a jar and throw it out with the trash

push my soul into a crate and toss it into a shed

bottle my brain up and give it away to someone else

paint my emotions over and stay a blank sheet

force my feelings into a chest and drop it into the ocean

so that you can recreate me as you will

and maybe you'll finally like me and

talk to me nice and look at me with

something other than contempt

and not scream at me whenever we speak, maybe you will

not tell me that I'm worthless anymore or that nothing

will ever come from me, maybe you won't try to tear

me down anymore, try to rip

everything I've ever been to shreds

in an instant, or systematically destroy

every ounce of hope I've had since entering your black

world of lies and deceit and pain and torture

.

.

.

Maybe

.

.

.

But probably not

.

.

.

because I will be dead

when the sun sets


	10. A Pretty Jewel

**Update: Sept. 12, 2016**

Another little tidbit! Remember to favorite, follow, review, and of course, stay safe everybody!

* * *

A Pretty Jewel

...

Perfectly cut, beautiful sharp lines

all reflecting the inner light at its heart

create the illusion of the gem shining

from within

Just like the glassy eyes of the doll

sitting in its chair, a painted smile ever on its face

waiting to be loved


	11. Knowledge

**Update: Sept. 17th, 2016**

So this came into existence in the oddest way.

I had this weird dream where I dropped into the story line of one of my favorite cartoons and knew everything that was going to happen. Of course, according to the rules of fanfiction and the multiverse theory, I couldn't do anything to change the story as I knew it. So someone calls me a coward for not trying to change anything, and I end up somehow magically letting them see into my mind a glimpse of all the chaos and shit that should, could, and would happen, and they go mad.

I've been told that I'm not exactly normal. Oh well.

I just realized today that this is the perfect metaphor for me in calculus. I'm drowning. And I now feel sorry for the calc teacher who has nothing better to do with his life than talk at a bunch of not-even-listening college students about indefinite integrals and the fundamental theorem of calculus and 'e to the nth power'.

Anyway, tell me what you all think!

* * *

Knowledge

...

From my oceans I

gave you a raindrop

From that rain

drop, you drowned

How worse off, then, am I

for all that I know?


	12. Bus Ride

**Update: Oct. 5th, 2016**

I'm back! Guess where I found this little gem? In the back of my high school chemistry notebook!

Anywho, my schedule's cleared up a lot since I switched calc classes. And I am now a part of an archery club and looking up useless websites now. Because I can.

* * *

 **Bus Ride**

...

Start game. Intro music,

3\. 2. 1. Go.

Left, down. Right, right, right, down.

Left, left, right, down. Down.

Right, down. Down. Right, left down.

Left, down - damn, lost again.

 _"Sit here!"_

It's a little boy in a blue baseball cap

about as high as my knee

gently prodding his little brother

into the bench.

 _"Mama?"_

The tiny baby that's clutching onto

the handrails looks to his mother

who's walking down the aisle.

She nods, and the boy stares at her before

sliding in next to his older brother

And the mother sits behind them

and watches as they jabber away

not knowing that their voices are

much too loud, or that they are

disturbing other people as they

argue about which Power Ranger is better

It brings a smile to my face.


	13. Note

**Update: Nov. 7th, 2016**

Well, I had to pick my boyfriend's brain a little for this. Let me tell you - putting your own words into thoughts is hard enough. Putting someone else's thoughts into words is a whole 'nother challenge in and of itself. But I like how this came out. Hope you all do too!

* * *

 **Note**

 **...**

I know, I know. I say it a lot. I abuse the hell out of that tiny phrase; it should be illegal to say it so many times.

But I mean it every single time. I really do.

And I'm afraid that it will get dull and loose its flavor and won't make you blush and smile anymore and you'll just look at me and say _'okay'_ one day and that will be it.

And I know I don't deserve you and that's why I'm scared and I know I shouldn't be scared but I'm a moron and I am and I'm just dumb because my biggest fear isn't dying or the world ending but losing you because if I lose you I lose my life and my sanity and my world and the part of me that's been gone without me knowing and everything besides and I don't even know why I'm saying this but it's true.

And I don't know why.

And it's scary and weird because I could sit and watch you do the most boring things ever and be completely content. You wouldn't even have to speak. You could be folding clothes or drawing on a receipt or washing dishes or reading or typing some paper up or just _existing_ and I could fall asleep because your presence is the best lullaby even when your concentrating and nor paying me any attention and I wouldn't care because you soothe me in a way that shouldn't be possible.

God, I say this way too much

but

I love you.


	14. Just Stay

God, don't look at me with those eyes

So full of love and yearning

And the full knowledge that you'll lose me

So damn soon.

I want to hug you tight

Crush you in my arms

And never let go, if only

To keep those tears I see in your eyes from falling

And I tell myself "it won't last forever, I'll see you again soon"

But shit, that doesn't help

Because the misery I see in your face is reflected in my heart

But it does no one any good if we're both crying, so

I laugh off your distressed look with a promise

To return soon and a joke

And it doesn't really work, because the only thing

Holding back your tears is

The makeup you're wearing and the pride you need to keep

But you're strong too

And you smile and laugh along anyway

And we both pretend that this is like any other day when

We say "see you later"

And ignore that voice that's making our heads hurt

That's beging "just stay"


	15. Life is Like a Gold Coin

Life is like a gold coin

It's expensive and

Precious

And has its own story to tell

A story of how it travels from

place to place and

You're a fool if you think you can throw it away

No matter if you have one or ten or

ten thousand or more

Throwing away even one is

Insane

Because once you throw it out

You'll never get it back

And all those memories and places

and feelings that it held are

gone

Forever

No one else will hear or see or feel them

And you only hurt yourself

Cheating yourself of the

Intangible wealth you once held

And still yet

We are so much more

Than a gold coin


End file.
